big transmission leak?

[dshockley]

Well, I had a bad experience today. I was driving to an appointment and was running late. I didn't notice anything until I came out and noticed a huge puddle of transmission fluid around the front right corner of my truck. My first thought was that the transmission cooler sprang a leak. I popped the hood and discoverd that one of the cooling lines had come loose. There was transmission fluid everywhere. Luckly there was a friend there than ran me to the parts store to pick up so transmission fluid, a screwdriver and a funnel. 9 quarts of ATF later I got the transmission filled back up. On the trips to the store we saw that I had started leaking fluid at a stop light up the hill. Fortunately it was about 1000 yds down a hill and into the parking lot before I shut it down. I coasted the whole way which I would say is better than if I had been under power. What do you guys think? Did I do serious damage? I was thinking that I should drive it a couple hundred miles and then send off an oil sample.



Thanks for the input.

Dan

 

[Philip]

How big was the trail? If most of the puddle was in the parking lot. I would say you are all right. A open line will drain out the converter and lines pretty fast when the engine is off. If it was a small trail with the bulk of the oil in the parking lot. Most of it drained after you shut the engine off.



Oil sample might be a good ide after a short while.

 

[dshockley]

There was a pretty good puddle at the stoplight and then a significant trail to the parking lot. I would say that about two quarts drained in the parking lot. I was at the stoplight for about 1 min. I then drove down the hill and into the parking lot and the turbo was cool from coasting and I was late so I shut it down immediately. I would say it was 2. 5 minutes from when I stopped at the light until I shut it down in the lot. I did not see any fluid on the road before the light. The line was completely disconnected so the leak was very severe.



Dan

 

[Philip]

Just do a oil sample like you planed. If you didn't see any slipage right off the bat it might not have got hurt. With you coasting down to the lot might have saved you. These trans are not as weak as some people think.

 

[RBurleson]

... and get back to the scene with a big old bag of kitty litter and a broom and dustpan.



Randii

 

[hdm48]

I wouldn't be too concerned. When it runs out of fluid, it just goes out of gear. If you were pulling a heavy load up a very steep hill and it leaked out slowly I might say to check it. I would take this as a hint the trans wants a service. Trannys are funny that way.

I would check to see why the line came off though.



--dave--

 

[dshockley]

The line had a hose clamp on it. My guess is that it came off because it was last tightened 12 years ago. I plan to check a lot of fasteners, etc. today. I had been planning to do that anyway. As far as service, I just serviced the transmission last Friday!



Thanks for the comments,

Dan

 

[aramsey]

If you did do damage it will be easy to tell. Pull the stick and take a good wiff of the oil. Nothing like the oder of burnt trany fluid. If the fluid does not have a strong oder you are ok. Even all the new oil you added will not kill the smell. The earler post is correct. If the fluid level drops fast like the line blowing you loose drive. Slow leaks are the ones that cause the damage. You do not know there is a problem until to late. Filler her up and run her.

 

[Bfulgham]

The guy I bought my truckfrom said he had blown a transmission hose off somewhere around 30K as I remember it. I have somewhere the receipt for the service at that time. They checked it out, reattached the hose , added fluid and it now has 157k on the transmission.

Bob F.